SHANGHAI -- The balance of loans in Shanghai stood at 9.81 trillion yuan ($1.55 trillion) at the end of February, up 12.3 percent from the same period of last year.

The balance of loans in Chinese yuan reached 9.04 trillion yuan at the end of February, up 12.1 percent year-on-year, 0.4 percentage points lower than the previous month in growth rate, according to the People's Bank of China Shanghai Head Office.

In February, new yuan loans stood at 14.8 billion yuan, 29.5 billion yuan less than the same period last year.

The balance of foreign currency loans hit $122.5 billion at the end of February, up 17.1 percent year-on-year.

At the end of February, the balance of Shanghai's deposits stood at 17.53 trillion yuan, climbing 10.2 percent over one year earlier.